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Stephen Chen

A group of Chinese navy engineers claim to have built an electromagnetic rail gun that can swiftly fire a multitude of projectiles without sustaining damage.
Even during continuous firing, the weapon retained a remarkable level of shooting accuracy, they said.
The shells shoot out of the barrel at 2km (1.24 miles) per second, which means any target within 100-200km is within its sights.
In comparison, regular artillery shells usually have a limit of tens of kilometres.
In one of the tests, the rail gun proved its mettle by firing off 120 rounds – or close to what some of the artillery in service today can do.
After the lightning and thunder subsided, the entire system remained intact, according to the researchers.
“Similar work has never been publicly reported before,” the team with the National Key Laboratory of Electromagnetic Energy at the Naval University of Engineering said in a paper published on November 10.
“War machines are slowly shifting from chemical power to electromagnetic power … [and] continuous firing rate is a crucial indicator of combat effectiveness for electromagnetic rail launch systems,” the scientists and engineers led by Professor Lu Junyong wrote in the paper.

This breakthrough means that “electromagnetic rail launch systems can now fire reliably, swiftly and without interruption”, they added.
It puts China ahead of the pack, globally.
The number of rounds that can be fired at Mach 6 before something gives, has to be considered by every scientist and engineer looking at rail guns.
In a rail gun, electromagnetic force sends a projectile or missile flying down a track, reaching speeds and distances beyond regular guns . It is seen as one of the game-changing technologies that could tip the scales in future wars. But for a long time, it was stuck in the realm of science fiction.
In the US, the navy poured a vast sum of money and decades of work into rail guns, but gave up in 2021 to focus its limited resources on hypersonic missiles instead.
One of the main sticking points the US had with rail guns was that they could not work out how to build something that could fire repeatedly without breaking down.
Meanwhile the success of the Chinese team can be largely attributed to a sophisticated measurement and diagnostic system.
The system is capable of collecting and analysing data from more than 100,000 component points simultaneously. That is nearly 10 times the number of sensors on a modern aircraft.

It has to find problems quickly, too, and work out what is causing them. A lot can go wrong with a machine that is complex and works in extreme conditions. Even the best technicians need days to sort it out sometimes.
But this AI system in China can cut that time down to milliseconds.
And it can make decisions on its own. If something is not too serious, like a piece of equipment getting a little too hot, it will keep going. But if there is trouble that could cause real damage, like something wrong with the thrust, it will not fire even if everything is loaded up.
Lu’s team said this clever system had saved the pricey weapon three times already. And with every little problem found and fixed, the electromagnetic gun works smoother. In the last 50 shots, there had not been a single glitch.
Electromagnetic rail guns and the tech that comes with them are important for the Chinese military. They hope the weapons could be used to shake up American control of the seas.
Some Chinese military experts trust that these rail guns could fire beyond 200km, letting their navy throw a lot of punches far from home.
China’s top naval scientist proposes a Star Wars-style ‘supership’
It was the Americans who first dreamed up a maritime version of Star Wars. Back in 2011, they had spent four years shooting off 1,000 test shells. By 2018, they were aiming high – building something that could fire 1,000 rounds easily.
But engineering, tech and money got in the way. The US military gave up on it in 2021, and some critics warned that China could use this as an opportunity to catch up and maybe even surpass them.
The Chinese researchers working on electromagnetic weapons are thinking big. They think they could use this tech to zip a train through a vacuum tube at 1,000km/h – faster than any plane flying today.
And by lifting up the end of that tube, they could launch rockets and maybe even make space travel cheaper. In November, China built the world’s longest vacuum electromagnetic launch tube in Shanxi province, and many research teams from around the nation are keen to test it.


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Science

2 years after US killed the rail gun, China brings weapon back to life with technological leap

Rail guns are seen as part of game-changing technologies that could tip the scales in future wars. Photo: US Navy

The US abandoned its development of rail guns in 2021, focusing instead on hypersonic missiles. Photo: US Navy

Chinese researchers working on electromagnetic weapons figure they could use the tech to zip a train through a vacuum tube at 1,000km/h, faster than any plane. Photo: Handout

‘World first’: Chinese scientists create high-power microwave weapon for small drones

Chinese researchers claim to have developed a microwave device that can attach to drones turning them into a high-powered electronic weapon. Photo: Dickson Lee

The weaponised drones will be able to jam enemy radar and communications. Photo: Xinhua

China unveils electromagnetic gun for riot control

The gun was unveiled on state television. Photo: CCTV

The gun is easy to store and carry and can fire rounds more quickly than a conventional firearm. Photo: CCTV

In a hurry? China’s ‘electromagnetic sledge’ cruises at nearly the speed of sound

The world’s most powerful magnetic propulsion system could soon help scientists solve problems holding back ultra high-speed transport, and usher in a new age of maglev trains. Photo: CCTV

The “electromagnetic sledge”, recently set a record speed for magnetic propulsion. Photo: CCTV

News

China

Military engineers have managed to create an electromagnetic rail gun that does not suffer damage after continuous firing
The breakthrough Chinese weapon has surpassed the US, which cancelled its costly rail gun development in 2021


Military engineers have made a breakthrough in electromagnetic rail gun technology, surpassing the US.


China’s military

China's military weapons